Rats, revisited

My insurance company might be regretting taking me on. They have
approved a bill of 6,862 swiss francs to smarten up my bike after my
inaugural crash the other day. This includes replacing the entire final
drive assembly because the casing was scratched, and according to the
mechanic it's cheaper than taking it to bits and putting a new casing on
it.

They've already OK'd about 2,600chf for clothes and lid, so the whole
mishap is going to cost (mostly not me) not far short of 10kchf.
Actually more, if you count a week's use of a K1200GT into the bargain.

Thank goodness for sympathetic insurance companies.

I rather reluctantly gave back the K today, to mock surprise in the
workshop that I'd managed to keep it in one piece for a week. I've spent
quite a lot of time while using it wondering whether I would prefer it
to the RT, and on balance I think I wouldn't. It's not very comfortable;
the windscreen is smaller and it's drafty and noisy, it's surprisingly
less sure-footed around tight corners, it uses fuel at an insane rate
and has a rather small tank, the sidestand has a silly little foot that
sinks into any surface ever invented, and it heats a small section of
your right ankle far too much. Most of the good things - great brakes,
tyre pressure sensors etc., are the same on new model RTs. But the
engine! Just a slight twist of the right hand and it's like being shot
from a catapult. In any gear. I could get used to that; in fact, I have.

For anyone with too much time on their hands, the bit of road involved
is here (for best effect use Google Earth and look at it from the side):

46°10'47.64"N 6°28'42.81"E

Yes, that really is my normal route to work.

I'm off to Bonaire on Thursday. Since it's seven years since I spent any
time underwater I had a mess around in the swimming pool yesterday
evening to see if I could remember where all the tubes went. I didn't
drown, although various slapstick moments did occur (if you use your
normal weight for salt water in a swimming pool, the bottom comes up
really fast). The garage says my bike will be de-crashed when I get
back. Hurrah!

Funny, this talking about yourself business can get really compulsive,
can't it? I really must consider getting a dog.

 

Thank you.

I could have added "unless there's some compelling reason not to", but I'm
a polite chap and I was worried about insulting the intelligence of the
group.

Hrrrmph.

 

Nice to see you filling the Murray space while the original's in Forn
Parts.

 

*snort*

 

Oh, Ged. There's a mental image I *really* didn't need.

 

If you haven't used your diving gear for 7 years, have it checked. Some
plastic parts may not close properly and let air through. That happened to
me with the jacket being inflated all the time and not letting me dive :-/

 

Try a jacket inflated to 2 bar and you'll need some extra stones to dive

 

That's a mental image I didn't have, until reading your post.

You bastard.

 

Gear serviced, batteries in computers replaced etc. Then the pool session
to make sure it worked.

 

<makes diver's signs of "ok">